


Though I Seem Tame

by Julyza



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, 半妖の夜叉姫 | Hanyou no Yashahime | Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:22:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28995921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julyza/pseuds/Julyza
Summary: Lady Amaya , a Spanish time-traveling half-demon, was sent to investigate and put the Bone Eater's Well in the Ministry's archives ---which would only take a day or so---, but a series of unfortunate events ---dying in a shipwreck--- forces her to take a detour with none other than Lord Sesshomaru, who simply doesn't care that she has a deadline to meet.
Relationships: Inu no Taishou/Izayoi/Sesshoumaru's Mother, Jaken & Rin & Sesshoumaru (InuYasha), Rin & Sesshoumaru (InuYasha), Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had posted this fic in December, but then with the shit show that Yashahime is, the fic kinda came out really depressing , so now that I am only cherry picking somethings about the sequel and throwing out what I don't like(sessrin, the shit story line, store brand Macbeth prophecies, trivializing a 13-yeard old girl being kidnapped by a grown man obsessed with her, etc.)  
> I'm also on Tumblr, with the name julyzaa

“Rin! Do not go near that body! Lord Sesshōmaru will kill me if you catch anything from it.” Jaken scolded the ten-year-old human girl who had just wanted a closer look at the corpse clad in tattered black woolen tunic.

There was no mistake of it, the dead _gaijin_ woman by the beach held some blood relation to Naraku. She was not an incarnation nor was she the wretch that spawned him, but a corpse could not be interrogated.

That he should find this woman mere hours after Kagura died in that field of flowers, feels like some sort of omen. Whether it was a bad omen, he had yet to see.

“I’m sorry, Master Jaken, the lady looks just like Kagura.” Rin, his ward, apologized to Jaken, his most loyal servant.

“No, she doesn’t. This woman is clearly foreign.” Jaken counters.

They looked similar, he supposed, both dead women had the same coloring. The resemblance did not stop there, Sesshōmaru observed, they had the same pointed ears, and willowy figure, but it was her right eye that almost made him lose his composure.

“Will Lord Sesshōmaru bring her back to life, Jaken?” Rin asked Jaken, the one who despite his claims of not caring for the human girl in the slightest worried about her like a fastidious uncle.

The young demon lord’s sword pulsed, begging him to use it and he complied. Tenseiga was never to be ignored. Perhaps this woman was the reason his sword was so restless lately.

Lord Sesshōmaru kills the pallbearers with ease and stands back as life is forcefully shoved back inside her lungs.

* * *

  
How could she explain what a Spanish noblewoman pretending to be a nun was doing in mid-16th century Japan?

She was not supposed to be in Japan.

At least, not yet.

The ship that was supposed to take her to the Portuguese colony of Macau had been attacked by pirates and the pirate ship had been shipwrecked in god knows which part of Japan. Her brother, Diego, a pirate and captain of the Dulcinea, was waiting for her in Macau, China.

Sure, she was of this era---technically--- and Saint Francis Xavier has already been here for several years. Portugal had been trading with Japan since 1543, but there would not be a Catholic church for nearly thirty years nor a convent for two hundred.

Amaya de Mendoza y Garcia survived two executions, about every court in Europe, two marriages, five shipwrecks and now her own awfully slow and painful death.

She was not supposed to be alive.

She had died from a blow to the head sometime before noon and woke up to the sun ---she squints while looking at the sky as she tries to orient herself--- at its zenith. Just thirty minutes ago, it felt longer than that.

A silver-haired dog demon, for she could smell a hint of dog on him, had resurrected her for reasons unknown to her.

Amaya, a Spanish half-demon witch, hated being indebted to a stranger, especially a stranger with a sword that cheated death. Everyone knew not to fuck with fate, but Amaya sincerely hoped the rules did not apply to this magical sword.

There is a toad demon, Jaken, entertaining a human girl, Rin, a short distance away. His servant and his ward, or so she had been told. The young demon slayer with them, Kohaku, played with the girl, a sad look in his eyes told her more than he let on. The boy will die once the magical shard on his neck is removed. She didn’t need her silver chalice to confirm it.

The window given to properly study the time portal and provide a record for the Ministry was already closing and if she missed it, she would have to wait three years until it opened for the last time.

“I guess I should thank you, my lord.” Amaya tried her best to wipe of the wet sand from her person and try to maintain her poise and holier-than-thou façade she had been perfected since she waited on Catherine of Lancaster, the Queen of Spain, almost one hundred fifty years ago.

She would be 198 this year, in two years she will be 20. And already she had seen more than any girl her physiological age should see. One of the things she hated about not growing up in the modern world was being married off to an adult at the age of fourteen and no one protecting her from him. Rin, the human girl, will be lucky enough to escape that fate, Amaya thinks when she looks at the girl who looks at her with curiosity.

Amaya thanked her lucky stars that this shipwreck didn't coincide with her monthlies, not her menstrual cycle, but those twenty-four hours she turns fully human. She claims to be indisposed that entire day and so far, that has worked. Except when the volcano, the Popocatepetl, in Mexico City erupted in 2012 and her legs were crushed under what used to be her apartment complex.

The young witch searched the inside if her habit and sighed in relief that her magical purse remained intact. Now all she needed was to take her leave, take bath and change out of her soggy clothing.

“May I importune your lordship with directions to the nearest village? I’ve been told Inu-Daiyōkai have great senses of direction.” She asked as politely as she could, she didn't want to offend the man who just resurrected her.

“You will travel with me.” He stated. Not asked nor suggested but ordered her to follow him.

“I am grateful for your offer, my lord, but I must refuse as I am on a tight schedule and don't wish to importune you nay longer.” Amaya curtsied in farewell and dug out a compass from her purse. If the information she was given for this mission was correct, she would get to that village in less than a week. Once she was done registering the well, she could go back to enjoying life in the 21st century.

“I did not ask for your opinion. Naraku will kill you unless his incarnations get to you first.” Sesshōmaru states imperiously as if she were his subject and not a strange woman he just found washed up ashore.

She has no idea who this Naraku is, but he must be very awful if this strange dog demon refuses to let her leave.

‘Well, some dogs do tend to herd other animals.’ Amaya remembers and tries not to think about the Belgian Sheepdog that had been given to her more than a century ago.

“Then I should introduce myself and cease to be strangers.” Amaya smiled politely and began,” I am Lady Amaya of Mendoza and Garcia. I am from the Kingdom of Castile in the Country of Spain.” Amaya curtsied.


	2. Chapter 2

There was only one thing she hated more than being her father’s daughter. Something her twin brother, Diego, also had been cursed with.

Heterochromia. A birth condition where a person is born with multicolored irises, and in cases like hers, as well as her father’s and her brother’s, one eye of an entirely different color. It was completely hereditary and not a sign of demon or witch blood as the Spanish Inquisition and most religions believed.

Had it been a stunning blue green like Diego’s and her father’s left eye, she would not have minded. Instead, her right eye was magenta red.

The devil’s eye the Catholic Church called it.

A fucking inconvenience, Amaya called it.

As a child she was forced to wear an eyepatch over her right eye until she was old enough to use a glamour to change its color to match her left eye.

Thankfully, it was a demon who had saved her, so she could put off recasting the spell to make her right eye purple until she left in search of the village the Bone Eater’s Well.

The Spanish witch wondered if she should tell the demon lord, same age as her if her information were correct, that she was sent to investigate the Bone Eater’s Well and the 21st century girl who could really fuck up things for the Ministry. Perhaps he’d escort her to the village faster.

* * *

“Will you at least turn away while I bathe?” Amaya asked the dog demon who guarded her while reaching inside her purse and willed her favorite traveling outfit and hygiene products into her hand.

“There is something I need to verify.” There is no lust or malice in his eyes as she pushed the straps on her shoulder of the pair of bodies she wore over her linen chemise. The pair of bodies were a precursor to stays and corsets. She was glad it laced in the front, so she wouldn’t have to ask him for help undressing.

A part of her, the part that was kind of excited at the prospect of sex with the handsome young demon, thought otherwise. She missed Irene, it wasn’t anything more than just casual sex, but Irene sure knew how to give a girl a good time.

Moving on.

Onigumo had the spider mark on his back like her father and brother, she thankfully did not. Did this Naraku have Arachne’s mark too?

God forbid this Naraku is another bastard her brother sired unto some poor girl. She already had enough to deal with when Diego knocked up Lucrezia Borgia while she was waiting for her annulment in 1497.

“Only those born with the Spider Goddess’s abilities are born with the mark. While I may be of her blood, I have no such ability.” She peeled the damp linen of her body. Damp was the wrong word, soggy and itchy were better descriptions. Amaya moved her hair and let the dog demon see her back.

“May I ask you to let me bathe in peace, my lord?” she asked as politely she could while reminding him that it was improper for him to be there.

He remained where he was and only turned around, facing the nearby grove the toad demon and the two humans were hanging out. Amaya groaned knowing that was likely to be the single concession he would give her.

“You are welcome to join me if you wish, my lord.” Amaya looked over her shoulder failing to look even remotely seductive given her current circumstances.

“What is your relationship to Naraku?” The demon asked. Well, this demon did not beat around the bush nor seemed susceptible to the charms of a naked and willing woman. Her respect for him was well earned, she surmises as she commands a comb to detangle her dark hair. Living without servants was bothersome, lucky for her she could command inanimate objects to do what her personal maid used to do.

“I have never heard of this Naraku you speak of, but I can guess that he must be another bastard my brother fathered some seventy years ago.

Unless it’s the one I know about, Onigumo, but he was a quarter demon as his mother had been human.” Amaya theorizes. Why did the Ministry have to send her in blind? Why couldn’t Aiko, her liaison with the Japanese Branch and the one who briefed her, tell her that she’d be once again caught in shit her brother caused? Did no one tell the Japanese Branch what happened when Diego fathered Giovanni Borgia?

“Onigumo is the name Naraku used before letting himself be consumed by lower classed demons. I will be the one to defeat him.” He said so sure of it, Amaya would believe it if she hadn’t met so many self-assured young men who only ended up returning dead, if they were returned at all.

Her eldest brother, Alvaro, died in the Hundred Year's War and only his broken sword returned.

“I am not surprised he changed his name, Spider Demon was a rather uninspired name, but then again, Princess Izayoi, his grandmother's mistress did literally name her son ‘Dog Demon’.” Amaya comments absentmindedly.

Onigumo's grandmother had waited upon Izayoi and stood by her when she was left to raise her half-demon son in her father's court. Onigumo was thirty years younger than Inuyasha, and his mother had grown up thinking she could have Izayoi's tragic romance. Except Diego was an asshole who has bastards in every corner ---and every era--- of the world.

The demon tensed at the name. She couldn’t see him, but she could feel the air around him get colder as his aura became darker.

Was this dog demon the son of Princess Izayoi’s lovers and half-brother to little Inuyasha? Her brother’s short time lover had been the daughter of Izayoi’s favorite lady-in-waiting and spared no detail when trying to exaggerate her importance even after her own mother disowned her for having a child out of wedlock with a half-demon no less.

“I apologize I had no idea I was speaking with the late Inu no Taisho’s heir. I haven’t been here since then.” Amaya apologizes which makes the demon more interested in what she knows. Great, now she won’t be able to slip away in the night.

“You knew my father?” he asks, and she deems herself sufficiently clean. She could soak in the spring for hours, but she has a deadline and her new post in Geneva waiting for her. She was given two weeks and that should’ve been enough time.

“I am afraid not, but Onigumo’s mother claimed to have met him and your lady mother. She was the daughter of a servant in Asano Castle before being thrown out for having my nephew.”

His demonic aura gets darker. So, the Asano Clan did more than taint their lineage? Amaya was intrigued, she was too curious, it was why time traveling had worked so well for her.

“Why are you here?” He asks, not moving an inch.

“I was sent here to investigate the Bone-Eater’s well.” She answers, wringing water from her dark hair.

“You are a time-traveler as well.” He concludes.

“Yes, although I am of this time unlike Miss Higurashi.” Amaya elaborated. “I didn’t know why Japan’s Ministry of Time specifically asked me to do it when they have at least twenty agents in this century, but now that you have given me more useful information than Aiko, who briefed me for this mission, did, I see why they sent me here.”

Amaya snaps her fingers, and she was dried and dressed in a second. The blackened steel cuirass fastening itself to perfection over her blue kirtle. “I am afraid I may have to ask you to revive my brother once I beat some sense into him, my lord,” Amaya says boldly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Borgias are what the Lannisters are based on. Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, was known as one of the most corrupt popes who used his illegitimate kids (Cesare (who is the depiction of white Jesus), Giovanni, Lucrezia, and Gioffre) to get richer. Lucrezia was in between husbands when she had an illegitimate child, Giovanni Borgia, by either her lover Perrolto, her dad or her brother.  
> Here they were demons and Amaya and her brother lived in Rome at the time.  
> Yes, Asano Castle as in Sara Asano’s castle. I plan to go deeper on that later on when Amaya unlocks Sesshomaru’s tragic backstory. Right now just know Izayoi was Princess Sara’s great aunt and Onigumo/Naraku’s mom and grandmother served Izayoi until she died.  
> Arachne is a Greek myth about a woman who was so good at weaving it pissed off Athena/Minerva who turned her into a spider, she’s the original European Spider Demon.  
> Hundred Years’ War, the war that started in the 1337 and ended in 1453, Joan of Arc was on the Side of the house of Valois, which Spain also supported.


	3. Chapter 3

“Why do you dress so strange?” Rin asked as she rode on Ah-Un and Amaya walked beside them. Amaya took out a bag of dried fruit and offered Rin some.

Rin was as curious as any eight-year-old child should be and Amaya did sort of regret not wearing the modified kimono Aiko had given her. Aiko had not told her if she, a foreigner, could wear one in the feudal era, but then again Amaya had forgotten to ask.

“This is how people dress in my country,” Amaya answered fully aware that is not the whole truth. It is not like Rin will ever go to Spain or Europe and find out women do not wear steel armor over their traveling clothing.

“Why do you look a little like Kagura?” Amaya did not mind the questions, she used to be a pediatrician in the 1990s and when she first took vows in the 14th century, she oversaw the orphanage. Curious children are a good thing. Which was why she was rewarding her with some of her dried fruit snacks.

“Um, I believe she is my niece. I don’t know if her being an incarnation of my nephew makes him her father, but according to our rules, she is my kin.” The half-demon answered honestly.

“Are you a good demon like Lord Sesshōmaru or a bad demon like Naraku?” Rin asked again. Her adoration for her lord and savior, Sesshōmaru was fucking adorable. As was the implication that the aristocratic assassin was a good person.

“I good one, I think. There are many people who think my brother, Diego, and I are bad because we are hanyo and our mother was a witch, but we are good demons like your lord.” Good being a blanket term for not evil. She had killed people, she had not joined the Ministry for the right reasons, and Amaya would lie if she said that she never ever did anything for personal gain.

“If you’re a half-demon like Lord Sesshōmaru's brother and Jinenji, why do you look normal?” Rin asked and Kohaku turned red while Jaken chastised Rin for her impertinence.

“Rin, you will offend her, and she will curse with ugliness for the rest of your life!” chastised the toad demon, freaking out over the innocent question.

“Is that what happened to you, Master Jaken?” she asked innocently, and Amaya choked on her dried cranberries.

Jaken sputtered until Sesshōmaru threw a pebble at him to make him stop scolding the girl.

“I am not all offended, Master Jaken. My mother was a witch and I simply didn’t inherit anything else aside from my red eye and time traveling abilities.” The Spanish witch does not mention that her father’s true form is the upper body of a man attached to a giant black spider. Or that it was fucking horrifying, especially if you saw him scaling the Burj Khalifa in 2011 chasing another demon and tearing it in half while half of his spider legs kept him attached to the tip of the building. He could absorb other demons and get rid of the parts he did not want. Did Naraku inherit this ability as well?

“Are you going to heal Lord Sesshōmaru’s arm?” Amaya would be lying if she had not expected this question after she used her ability to heal a skinned knee earlier.

“If he wants me to, although my powers do have limits, so I can’t really say I can heal his arm.” Amaya looks at the back of Sesshōmaru’s head half wishing he would ask her to do so, so she can see if either her magic or modern demonic medicine could remove whatever was stopping it from regrowth. Even she, a half-demon, regrew four of her toes and moat of the bones in her legs a month after the earthquake in 2012.

The half-human witch was dying to check out his arm.

“Will you let her, Lord Sesshōmaru?” Rin asked the dog demon with her mouth full of half-chewed cranberries. Its adorable, really and Amaya tries not to blush when the slightly mortified demon stops suddenly.

“Impertinent girl! Rin how many times have I told you not to put Milord on the spot like that?” Jaken reprimands her again. His staff waving around wildly, and Amaya was going to likely antagonize the little toad further by this, but she did it anyways.

With a snap of her fingers, Jaken was struck by a silencing spell. One she learned by watching a Chinese gay fantasy series in 2018.

The toad demon flailed and grabbed at his mouth hoping to wrench it open until it dawned on him it was not going to happen.

“I apologize for the silencing spell,” she said to everyone, but Sesshōmaru in particular. She playfully chastised Jaken, “it’s quite rude to butt into other people’s conversations, master Jaken.”

The demon lord smirked, that was as close as she could get to a sensible chuckle.

“Just so you are aware, my lord, I am on a schedule, so I will make you deal.” Amaya catches up to him as he moves away from the camp. His nose twitching, sniffing that other dog smell in the air.

It smells faintly of plum blossoms and exceptionally fine incense. Was it his mother who lived in the castle in the sky?

“What could you, a half-breed, offer me, Lord Sesshōmaru?” He asked haughtily. With such a tone it is a wonder he has not been struck by lighting or crushed underfoot like a bug.

“I could figure out why your arm hasn’t regenerated. If its within my abilities, I could remove whatever is blocking it.”

“And if you cannot?” He asks fear and hopelessness bubbling under his cool façade.

“I can have someone in the future who is an expert in demon biology analyze your blood.” She answers unfazed. “You would be surprised how far things have come in almost five hundred years from now.”

“You think to highly of you own abilities, witch.” He sneers.

“As do you. You will not defeat Naraku even with your left arm, you know.” Amaya did not intend to be hurtful, but her new traveling companion is not the type to warrant sugarcoating.

He stands in front of her, amusement, and pettiness in his expression. “If you wish to try your paltry healing skills on this Sesshōmaru, you will have to undress me yourself.”

Amaya could have him entirely undressed with a snap of her fingers, leaving him half-dressed will not be an issue.

He smirks and grabs her right hand before she could do anything else. “Without your cheap tricks.”

Oh, he was getting back at her for what she said back at the spring, wasn’t he?

“As you wish, my lord.” Amaya thanks whatever higher power there is that no one was around to report her unprofessional behavior.

“You said I was not going to be the ne to defeat Naraku, how did you know that?” He asked as she carefully placed his sword on the clean picnic blanket, they now sat on.

“I haven’t had time to scry to confirm my suspicions, but this vision I had, brief as it is, didn’t show you dealing the finishing blow.” The dark-haired woman deftly undoes his sash being careful not to tug it too harshly. It was wound up three times, and that led her being much closer to him than she should. “Have you had any symptoms like fatigue, fever, or anything that you are hiding from Rin and Jaken, so they do not perceive you as weak?”

He looked down on her, she was barely five foot three and she was practically hugging him as she undid the first twist of his sash.

He smelled faintly of dog, but that did not stop it from smelling kind of good. He chuckles slightly and she blushes slightly. Of course, feelings and little things like finding a person attractive have a smell, she fights the urge to groan.

“No. Everything save for my arm healed perfectly.” He answered before adding, “You are nervous about touching my person even when you propositioned me this morning.”

“Oh, you believed I was propositioning you. It was a test, if you had taken me up in my offer, I would have killed you before you’d have the chance to prey on that poor little girl.” Amaya admits and takes just a bit longer to finish unwinding the last part of his sash.

“I would never touch Rin. Even if she desired me as a husband in the future, I would not touch her let alone make her my wife.” He says slight anger at being accused of having a nefarious purpose for taking Rin as his ward. “Your family failed you, but I will not fail Rin.”

“That is very admirable of you. Now that we have cleared that up, will you let me use my magic to undress you, your lordship?” she asks sweetly folding his sash carefully, whoever hand painted that silk would rise from the dead and strangle her with it if she ruined it.

“No.” He answered amused by her gasp.

“I am sorry for making you believe I was coming on to you even though I was covered in wet sand, debris and my own blood.” She apologized and unfastened the straps on the sides. His fur was very warm and soft, so unlike his personality.

Now she just needed to either pull it over his head or unfasten the red strings keeping his spiked pauldron attached to his cuirass and folds.

“You offended me, and you must atone for it.” He was teasing her and here she though he was another cold fish.

“Jaken must be so jealous of me, a filthy hanyo, touching his lord.” She japes. “How long has it been since your brother---”

“Half-brother.” He corrected tensing at the words.

“How long has it been since your half-brother cut off your arm?” She asked, again.

“Ten months and three weeks.” Almost a year, that explains why he was not overly optimistic about her healing abilities.

“My uncle, a full-blooded demon, lost his right leg and it took almost a decade for it to grow back. Do not lose hope, even if I cannot heal it right now, I know for a fact that it will grow back very soon.” Amaya could have jumped for joy when he willed his armor off and she just had to gently tug both layers of his kimono off his left shoulder. “Thank you.”

He did not flinch, Amaya knew she had cold hands and knew he found them cold as well, but he did not flinch when she touched the stump with both her hands. It was good to know that his bravado was not entirely unfounded.

“If you feel any tingling or burning please let me know.” He nodded and she began the first spell, which usually did the trick.

She furrowed her brow; it had not done shit. Amaya tried again, and when that one did nothing, she took out a poultice she had made for stimulating limb regrowth.

It takes roughly fifteen minutes of her trying everything she knows before giving up. “Alright, so three hundred generations of healing magic are not doing the trick, but I am confident my friend who lives in the future will know what is wrong.”

“I told you it was beyond your abilities, what difference will it make to know that even in the future they do not know what is wrong with me?” He says coldly.

“Even if my friend, a demon doctor, is unable to heal you, your blood sample could help bring about a cure for it eventually. Did you have an emotional attachment to the weapon used or the person holding the weapon?”

Her uncle, Alejandro, had been extremely attached to his ship, losing it and being the sole survivor had sealed his regeneration capabilities until he was able to let go of the past and move on.

He does not answer nor even look at her. Not even when she prepares a vacutainer and the spot where she will insert the needle.

If it had been something physical or magical, she would have been able to heal it with the first incantation alone.

So, what was it that had put a psychological block on his healing factor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, 2k words!  
> the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, and Amaya's outfit is pretty much the one Saorise Ronan wear in Mary, Queen of Scotts. I would put a pic, but I don't know how. I'll let you figure out which Chinese gay fantasy tv series Amaya got the silencing spell from.
> 
> So, hi y’all, I did take my sweet as time with it, but you should know I don’t do well with schedules, my grandpa died last week and Yashahime is killing my writing mojo. What with child bride Rin, the utterly garbage writing, and the possible homophobia in next week’s episode (episode 19)
> 
> Basically, if you ship sessrin, get ready to know that she is at most 15 when she gave birth and people who still ship them romanticize Sesshōmaru’s interactions with her in Inuyasha.
> 
> Anyone else shipping SessKirin? They have more chemistry than Sesshōmaru with his alleged child bride.


	4. Chapter 4

“May I take my leave now?” She asks politely after they finished packing and got on the road again. The word road being used figuratively.

“No.” he was not going to let her leave.

“I kept my end of the bargain and as such you have to let me go.” Amaya explained herself, hoping to wear him down.

“Your quest can wait until I can entrust you into Inuyasha’s protection.” He kept walking away, he was sniffing for the scent of his mother, who would be here any moment.

“I can defend myself; I don’t need to be handed off to someone else as if I were some unwanted parcel.” Amaya took out her dagger that turned into whatever she needed. It was pretty much Swiss army knife that looked like an unassuming dagger. “I have killed before.”

“Even if you evade Naraku, any demon and half-demon would come after you either way. Just ask the human miko my half-caste brother travels with.” He stopped suddenly and if she were a naïve girl, Amaya would’ve asked him to elaborate.

“I am very capable of repelling those of the male persuasion, my lord.” She reiterated and he rolled his eyes.

“For a supposed lady, you are too insolent.” He scoffed.

Yes, Amaya knew she was a little chatty, but she was only bothering him for a good reason.

“The well will close soon. If the Ministry doesn’t archive it before it closes, I will be stuck here until I can find my way back to Spain where I will be hung from the gallows for witchcraft and the murder of my late husband.” She stood in front of him and refused to move. She had the advantage, he only had one arm.

“That is of no concern to me, leave if it is that important to you.”

Hurrah, annoying people into letting you have your way is her second-best strategy.

“I will, I have already said my goodbyes to Rin and Kohaku, and I don’t feel like being impolite, so farewell, my lord.” She bowed in farewell and left.

Amaya had taken less than three steps before Sesshōmaru took to the air and shifted into his true form.

“I knew it, that was his tail.” Amaya tells herself as she continued on her way. She isn’t any further when her new friends and Jaken reach her.

There's a female Inu Daiyōkai running to meet Sesshōmaru, if Amaya were the spawn of a lower classed demon, she wouldn’t have smelled the kinship between them too. That was his mother, she looked majestic enough to have birthed someone like him.

Rin ran to her. She wasn’t going to leave, bummer. Goodbye, lofty post in 2019 Geneva. If only, she hadn’t accidentally gone feral in her last mission and killed her third husband, she wouldn’t have had been forced to take this rather impossible mission to prove she wasn’t a liability.

Maybe her older sister, Manuela, in the colony of La Florida, could let her live there for the next twenty years. There’s also Manuela's twin sister Mariana in Yucatan, Mexico. Either way, she was going to fail, and she was fucked.

“Are you coming, Amaya?” Rin grabs her hand and drags her forward.

“So, it was you.” Sesshōmaru’s mother comments.

 _“De tal palo, tal astilla.”­_ Amaya mutters when she sees mother and son share that same cool demeanor.

Jaken, as she had come to know, took it as an insult upon his lord and Rin took that as a chance to ask Amaya what she had said.

“Oh, I was just mentioning how much Lord Sesshōmaru and his mother resemble each other, dear.” Amaya says low enough to for Kohaku to confirm his own theory, but not loud enough to call attention to herself. Goodness knows her appearance will be enough.

“I thought perhaps you could tell me more about father’s memento, Tenseiga.” Sesshōmaru, in the same calm and collected way his mother spoke, answered.

“So, you are saying you have come to pay your mother a visit.” There is a teasing tone in her voice, could her son have had that same wit before whatever happened with his younger brother. Jaken has been less than forthcoming with that information.

Jaken gasps, unaware he is the last one to put two and two together.

“So, Sesshōmaru…” She begins once we arrive to her palace in the sky. “Do you actually not hate humans and---” the Inukimi looks at Amaya with interest instead of disgust,” half-demons?”

“Those two human children you have with you,” She takes a seat in her throne. “Do you intend to eat them?”

Inukimi is beautiful like some deity, especially with the portal to the underworld hanging around her neck.

To anyone who hasn’t been around sarcastic people, this might sound like she means it, but Amaya knows the Inukimi is just toying with her son. Wit is something every perfect lady must have in abundance whether it is a dry wit or a warm one

“Ridiculous.” He answers, a bit annoyed at her attempt at humor.

“I would ask about the hanyo, but I would rather you do not neglect me for another century.” His mother admits defeat. Amaya would kill to have such a cool mom.

“Tenseiga’s method of opening the Meido…” He starts almost a bit unsure. “Surely you heard about it from father.”

Ah, the memory of his father hurts him more than it looks, his mother knows and the tiny glimpse of knowing the source of his pain and that it still remains makes him stonier. He mistakes empathy for pity, and he hates being pitied.

“Maybe, I was merely entrusted with the Meido-Seki, after all.” Her perfectly manicured claws hold the black stone that reflects the galaxy upwards.

“Meido-Seki?” He asks.

Amaya bites down the urge to ask her how it works and what quadrant of the underworld does it take them. She had seen some of the portals, but she had never interacted with one in person. The Spanish half-demon also doesn’t want to make a bad impression on the dog demoness because she doesn’t want to be trapped in hell…again.

“I was told to use it if Sesshōmaru were to stop by.” That is oddly specific for something your dead husband left you. “Oh yes, and he told me this as well…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so sorry I took so long, but like 2021 has been hell for me and we’re barely like March 7. Like my grandpa died in January, my dog along with her 7 puppies died---the last one died like two hours ago--- from mid-February to now, so that just a lot of shit happening and not enough serotonin for me to write.  
> the exchange between sesshomau and his mom is almost taken word for word from the manga and de tal palo tal astilla is a Spanish idiom meaning the splinter is the same as the stick it came from or something like that. Amaya is just saying, Sesshomaru resembles his mom a lot.
> 
> P.S, feel free to acknowledge that I was crying over Junior, the puppy who died that I had been raising for two weeks, when I write the Hell-arc sometime this week, or next, I have no idea when it comes out. I write good sad shit when I am grieving.


	5. Chapter 5

“If you use the meido-seiki, Sesshōmaru will be faced with great danger, however you must not feel fear nor sadness.” The Inukimi, having played up the suspense, finally says.

Shit. Amaya feels horrible for Sesshōmaru and she has only known him for like three days.

“And she says this while smiling.” Jaken says astonished.

“She doesn’t look very worried.” Rin looks at Amaya as if Amaya knew why Sesshōmaru’s mother seemed very nonchalant about this very deadly test.

“What will you do?” the Inukimi asked her son who had yet to respond. “Well, don’t keep your mother waiting.” There is a smirk so like Sesshōmaru’s that Amaya wonders what exactly did Sesshōmaru even get from his father’s side.

“Hmn,” Sesshōmaru’s demeaner remains the same, but Amaya swears there must be some unresolved issues here. “Your words are hollow as always.”

“In that case.” His mother grasped the meido stone with both hands and held it in a significant way, “Shall we have a bit of fun.”

These people have no real concept of danger, do they? Amaya asked herself.

When her parents and masters had trained her, they had made fail safes to ensure she did not die. Even when she had to face her worst nightmares through her mother’s curse, her mother and the witches in their coven had expressed worry and even tried talking her out of it.

Did the Inukimi have a fail safe for her son? Amaya pushed Rin and Kohaku behind her hoping her barrier could get up in time. Even with all her training and innate power, she was still caught by surprise.

Sesshōmaru attacked it, the crescent of his Meido Zangetsuha not cutting the demon that sprung forth from his mother’s portal.

“So, this is Sesshōmaru’s meido, huh? Its no where near a circle.” The dog demoness ruminates.

“It did not cut through it.” Amaya readies her dagger ---which turns into a handgun--- in case Sesshōmaru cannot defeat it.

“That is a hellhound. “She explains.” Sesshōmaru no matter what you do, your sword with neither cut it nor heal it.”

The hellhound comes quickly for the children behind her, and Amaya is sure she just emptied her clip of magical bullets that have no result. Her magic and her youki can hold him off for a while.

“Shit.” Amaya mutters when the hound passes through her and grabs both children with its mouth. The cold from having a being of the underworld pass through her body does not compare to the dread of knowing one of those two children will not make it.

Sesshōmaru is behind the hound as it goes back into the underworld through the crescent he opened.

For a few seconds worry flashes through Inukimi’s face and it mixes with anger as she questions her son before he crosses into the underworld. “You intend to pass through the Meido? For what to save two human children?” She looks at him with something akin to disappointment, “You really have gone soft.”

“I am just going in there to kill the dog.” Her son replies before jumping into the underworld and the meido closes behind him.

“Does the Meido Stone let you reopen portals, my lady?” Amaya asks worried that Sesshōmaru may not be able to rescue Kohaku and Rin and bring them back to the land of the living.

“Once the Meido closes it is over.” The Inukimi lets distress overtake her, not visibly, but Amaya can read auras, “He will never be able to return to the land of the living.”

“Are you sure, my lady?” Amaya asks again. That cannot be the end of it. Surely the stone can open portals.

“Oh, that is why I told him not to go.” The demoness practically wails. To lose ones only child would bring even the coldest of mothers to anguish.

“No, the fact that you didn’t tell him not to is the issue here.” Jaken said under his breath and the demon and half demon ladies pretend not to hear him.

Although she has no idea which part of hell Sesshōmaru and the two children are and she has never encountered something like the Meido Stone before, Amaya had an idea. It could work, she had seen people open doors into hell and out of it with similar things, the Meido-Seiki could not be any more different.

“What is going to happen to Lord Sesshōmaru?!” Cried Jaken.

“Shut up and don’t cry.” Commanded the Inukimi. The last thing they need is a hysterical Jaken disrupting their mind as they think of a solution. Well, Amaya thinks of a solution and the dog demoness explains her late husband’s thing.

“In order for the sword to mature, you have to make sacrifices.” This she says looking straight at the Spanish Half-demon.

Rin.

Sesshōmaru must let Rin die for his sword, since Amaya had no attachments to the dog demon, the hellhound went for the children due to his attachment to them.

This was the test, not the fight with the hellhound or whatever lied in hell, but whether he valued his ward’s life more than his sword. It was easy in the hindsight, but Amaya did kind of fail a similar test on the first try.

“Oh,” Sesshōmaru’s mother looks at the meido stone in her hands as if she were seeing what was happening in the other world, “the Pallbearers of the Afterlife and that hellhound are both the same type of hell fiend…so they were cut down by the healing sword.”

“Lord Sesshōmaru used Tenseiga’s healing power?” Jaken asks in astonishment.

Of course, the sword capable of defeating death would work in the land of the dead. It could not resurrect the dead if it was a sword of this world.

“You can see what is going on in the other side, my lady?” Amaya asks, furrowing her brow wondering how the Meido-Seiki she has works.

“Yes, I can see all that is happening with this in my hands.” She answers and Amaya takes out her guide on portals to hell, which thankfully she keeps in her smartphone’s eBook library. “This Meido-Seiki is connected to the Meido after all.”

Amaya does not need to read Jaken’s mind to know what him has sweating and shaking. That means something happened to Rin. Amaya had not known them for long, but she would bet her house in New York City, that Rin was going to die.

“Little Yokai.”

“My name is Jaken---”

The silvery haired demoness asks Jaken. “That human child, tell me, what is she to Sesshōmaru?”

“Even though you asked me what…” Jaken stumbles on his words before he begins again,” It’s just that while I, Jaken, have been in Lord Sesshōmaru’s service for many years, Rin is always treated much more favorably.”

“Your son is very fond of the girl ever since she found him when he was injured.” Amaya answered when the Inukimi seemed unsatisfied with Jaken’s answer.

“That girl will die.” Inukimi says and Amaya nods, she had known that when the coldness of the hellhound set in her bones. “Whether or not she is just a girl to Sesshōmaru, she will die.”

The moment the hound had swallowed her and Kohaku her fate had been sealed. Magical beings like them would be unharmed, but Rin was just an ordinary human.

They do not speak, which Amaya is grateful for, she cannot seem to find anything on this specific meido stone in her guide.

“They can only proceed, as the return path has crumbled.” The Inukimi does not look up from the stone, she does not want to risk losing sight of whatever is happening to her son. “…and ahead of them is Hell.”

“So, um, when they reach Hell, there will be something there?” Jaken asks. Amaya was curious to, was there like something he had to kill there, this was a weird trial.

“There is nothing there.” The dog demoness states.

“But isn’t this a test in order to power up Tenseiga?” Jaken is taken back by her answer.

Inukimi looks straight ahead and past them. “Once they step into the true darkness of Hell, it’s over. Not even Sesshōmaru will be able to come back again.”

The Meido-Seiki can remedy that, Amaya tells herself. Nothing is ever final, especially being trapped in hell.

“He finally realized the girl has ceased breathing.” The demoness says and worry flashes through her golden eyes.

“Surely, Tenseiga can remedy that. He brought me back and I had been dead for almost twenty minutes.” Amaya says thinking the demoness must not know how great her son’s sword is. Healing swords are rare, one that can bring people back is the stuff of legends.

“If the pallbearers of the afterlife are not there for him to slay, there is no way to save her.” The Inukimi explains to them. Well, that put a damper on things.

“Uh um, so Rin is—” Jaken doesn’t even want to finish the sentence.

“She is as good as dead.” The demoness finishes for him a touch too casually.


	6. Chapter 6

“I am not that much of a fiend. I would regret for my precious son to throw his life away studying the sword.” The Inukimi dismissed Jaken’s yammering. “I think I’ll open the path to him.”

The silver haired demoness removes her necklace and holds it away from her body. The sword’s meido has to be bonded to the stone just as Amaya had hypothesized.

“Aha, I knew it. You would not have let your only son go there if you did not have a way out, my lady.” Amaya feels glad her travel guide would not die in hell along with Rin and Kohaku. As for Rin, well, necromancy has never been her forte, but she could ask other witches for help.

Amaya could see the underworld behind her. She could even hear Kohaku point out the path that opened before their eyes.

“Please come out, Sesshōmaru.” The Inukimi asks her son as if he were just a boy hiding under the bed after a bad storm. “If you keep coming this way you will be able to leave the hell.”

Will he leave Rin to her fate and take her offer? Amaya had failed her test when she took the wrong option, the demoness’ offer to her son might by a wrong option.

“However, this path will soon close. If that happens you will never again be able to set foot in this world.” His mother makes it clear this is his last chance. Save yourself or die saving an already dead Rin.

Amaya cannot read his expression, but she does hear him commanding Kohaku to take the path to which the boy refuses.

It is his loyalty to Sesshōmaru and Sesshōmaru’s own resolve to save Rin that opens the third path. The one leading to where Rin’s little corpse is. He walks away and the portal closes once more.

“What will happen to Lord Sesshōmaru?” Jaken asks, once again at the verge of tears.

Good, Amaya tells herself. At the end of the trial there is always an exit, too bad his mother doesn’t seem to know it’s a trial.

“That fool is no concern of mine. He had his chance,” The Inukimi tilts her face away in disgust, “He ignores his mother’s kind gesture, what a spiteful child.”

“Another path will open once his trial is done, my lady. I am very certain this was a test set by his late father.” Amaya assures her. “Had he taken your offer, he would have failed it.”

“How do you know this is a test, half-demon?” the silver haired woman asks her now that she knows Amaya isn’t some ladder climbing ninny.

“I know it is a test because I failed one just like that when I was about to finish my training twenty years ago.” Amaya answers honestly. “You seem to know what you speak about; I don’t smell my son’s scent on you; therefore, you are not his lover. What are you?” She asks Amaya.

“I am the daughter of a spider demon lord and a human witch, your son saved me when I died in a shipwreck just off the coast less than a week ago. “Amaya doesn’t mention why she is in Japan or that she time travels, its not like she’ll stick around after her mission is done.

“You owe him a life debt; you better not expect him to let you repay it with your body.” The Inukimi warns her. “Nor think to squander this second chance you were given.”

“I would not dream of it, my lady.” Amaya assures her.

“I had inferred as much when the hellhound did not take you along with the children, but I wanted to confirm my suspicions.” The dog demoness admits. “Initially, I had assumed it was your demon blood, but as you and my son have no attachments to each other, it makes more sense for the hellhound to take the children my son protects. Do you know what specific test my son has to undertake?”

The demoness definitely knew, but she won’t be sharing it anytime soon.

“I wonder what Lord Sesshōmaru’s test is? I have my theories, but until he passes or fails, I won’t know the specifics, my lady.” Amaya adds trying to drive her attention back to this being her son’s test and not straight forward to the ‘you are the aunt of my son’s current foe’ conversation.

“Strange, he cut down the guardian of Hell and the girl did not return to life.” The Inukimi’s brow creases in intrigue. She then looks at Jaken,” Little Yokai.”

“My name is Jaken, my lady.” the little toad demon then mutters under his breath, “I get the feeling you won’t be remembering that.”

She rolls her eyes. “Has that little girl already been resurrected by Tenseiga once before?”

“Yes, what of it?” he answers hurriedly

Tenseiga could bring a person back to life, but there had to be limits. Was this its limit? If it was, then, fuck.

“The Tenseiga cannot bring her back a second time.” The dog demoness turns to Amaya, knowing she had been brought back by Tenseiga as well. “Tensiga can only bring back a person’s life only once.”

Oh, great so the next time Amaya dies it will be permanent.

“Rin can’t be saved, and neither can we if we die a second time.” Amaya tells Jaken quietly. The toad demon had told her how his lord had also resurrected him.

Even in a separate plane of existence, Amaya could feel his anguish at having sacrificed Rin for his sword. She remembers how she felt when she came to.

“He discarded Tenseiga even though he went through Hell to strengthen it.” The Inukimi is not impressed, but Amaya is.

Tenseiga pulses in the netherworld, the Spanish half demon doesn’t know why she can feel it. Had she been inadvertently bonded to the sword?

“He purified all the corpses in Hell.” The Inukimi says almost amazed.

“He passed his test.” Amaya whispers. Sesshōmaru’s test was to see if he valued innocent life over his personal gain. He had passed it. A man with more blood on his hands than Amaya ever did could pass a test she didn’t. It was almost unfair.

It is then he opens a portal with Tenseiga. Instead of a crescent it looks more like an eye opened wide or an American football. It was bigger, but the Meido’s were typically a full circle like the portal opened by the Inukimi almost an hour ago.

“So, you’ve returned.” The mother greets her son, there is approval in her eyes, which was strange as she had bemoaned the fact that he almost tossed away Tenseiga for a human girl just a while ago.

He walked solemnly and in his quiet rage placed Rin on the platform of his mother’s throne. It is one thing knowing Rin had died and seeing her lifeless corpse. Amaya doesn’t cry, the last time she cried was when she failed her own trial twenty years ago.

“What’s the matter, Sesshōmaru, you look upset. Tenseiga matured and the Meido widened, isn’t that a cause for celebration?”

Amaya could guess that his mother had assumed that his test was being okay with sacrificing a child for power. Amaya had drunk herself into a stupor and almost thrown herself off a belltower when the guilt overcame her that night.

She would never forgive herself for what she did and its not like she could borrow Tenseiga to go back in time and resurrect her victim.

“Did you know this would happen to Rin? Did you know, mother?” He seethed; it seems his mother had known someone would have to die for the Meido.

“If I am not mistaken you had already used Tenseiga once to bring the girl back. Tenseiga can bring back a life only once. His eyes grow wide, if he had less manners Amaya knows he would’ve lunged at his own mother’s throat.

“Life is finite, it is not something you can save as many times as you like at your convenience. Did you think you were a god or something? That as long as you had Tenseiga you had no fear of death?” the Inukimi lectures her son.

He says nothing, his aura tells Amaya that he made the worst mistake of his life in sacrificing Rin for his sword.

“You needed to learn two things: the desire to save a loved one from death and the sorrow and fear that comes from such loss.

Your father wanted me to tell you this, Tenseiga is a sword for healing only a person who values life and has a compassionate heart may wield such a weapon and use its power to dispatch their enemies. That is the requirement for any who wishes to be worthy of Tenseiga.

It is a sword that can save lives as well as condemn others.”

So, Rin had to die for Sesshōmaru to learn compassion? The Inu no Taisho and the Inukimi would get along famously with her parents.

Jaken weeps as he comes to that realization as well.

“Little Yōkai, are you crying?” the Inukimi asks strangely concerned about why Jaken weeps for Rin.

“I am Jaken, my lady.” Jaken covers his face as he cries harder,” It’s because Lord Sesshōmaru’s disposition prevents him from ever showing tears, I, Jaken, shall in his place.”

Did Jaken also read auras like she did, she would have to ask him later. Once Rin comes back to life.

“Are you sad, Sesshōmaru?” his mother asks him, and he just glares as if his palpable grief wasn’t visible enough.

The demoness removes the necklace once again and puts it on Rin,” Do not think I will be doing this again.”

The Meido-Seiki was bonded to Tenseiga, of course it would have its healing power as well. Light begins to come from it as if it were sending out waves. Was the stone seeking out Rin’s soul left in the underworld?

The ripples of light then glitter, and little Rin opens her eyes and coughs, much like Amaya did when she was resurrected. If Rin is up for it, Amaya will ask her so she can make her notes about Tenseiga, so she can recreate it with her weapon.

Even though Kohaku and Jaken crowd her, Sesshōmaru moves with his usual fluid grace and gently caresses Rin’s face, like a father does to his child. Is this how Jairus felt when Jesus brought back his twelve-year-old daughter?

“Lord Sesshōmaru, you’re here,” Rin smiles surprised to see him there as if she wasn’t sure that Sesshōmaru would be there for her like her late father had been.

Like Matea had been for her.

Amaya has not shed tears for twenty years. She has not cried since the night she killed the woman who had loved more than her own mother.


End file.
